Our picture is taken from the Soho mural, where she is named as "Mrs Brook" but that is insufficient information for us to identify her, even with the extraordinary hat as a clue. Do you know this woman?
2022: Edward Kegg solved this puzzle. At the British Museum he found the print on which this image is based "Portrait of Mrs Brooke". Entitled "R. Houston Fecit / Printed for Carington Bowles, next the Chapter House in St. Pauls Church Yard, London."; annotated in pencil on the verso 'The Wife of a Printseller in Fleet St. She is said to been [sic] the writer of the advertisements of the entertainments at the White house Soho Square when it was under the management of M de Carneby [last two letters obscured and uncertain]'. Curator's comments: According to an annotation in the departmental copy of Chaloner Smith {a book in which the print was published}, the sitter was the wife of James Brooke, who was associated with the stage but trained as an engraver. It is possible the details given on the verso of this impression refer in fact to the same person." It is a lovely print.
